


A Little Fatherly Attention

by midnight_vision



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 22:59:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11300610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnight_vision/pseuds/midnight_vision
Summary: It’s the first time Ahsoka’s gotten sick as a Padawan, and she doesn’t understand why Anakin insists on taking care of her, but she’s willing to roll with it.





	A Little Fatherly Attention

Ahsoka blew her nose for what felt like the hundredth time in the last half hour before she pulled the blanket Rex had given her tighter around herself. Togrutan immune systems were quite strong, so it was rare that Ahsoka ever got sick, which Anakin always claimed to be jealous of since he came down with something every few missions. With the amount of planets they traveled to, it was impossible to be vaccinated against everything, but Obi-Wan didn’t seem to be as susceptible as Anakin. She wondered if that was due to him having easy access to medicine from the time he was an infant.

Although she wasn’t used to the runny nose and sporadic chills, Ahsoka wasn’t going to complain, not when they were about to have their first days off in months. She would go to the healers and rest up while watching the new holodrama that she’d been looking forward to seeing for weeks. Ahsoka would much rather recuperate in the Temple than on their ship or in a tent on some strange planet.

Once they reached the Temple, Anakin practically carried her to the medical bay, much to Obi-Wan’s obvious amusement. He went off to give their report to the Council after wishing her well.

“Master, you don’t have to stay with me. I’ll be fine.”

He shook his head. “Let me at least hear what the healer has to say.”

It turned out to be nothing serious, which was what she’d suspected. They gave her a shot that would clear it up in a few days, so she would be back to her old self by the time they had to leave for their next mission. But Anakin followed her to her quarters anyway.

“Really, it’s not like I’m going to pass out.”

“Just get whatever you need and follow me to my quarters.” She opened her mouth to reject the offer, but he quickly said, “Please, Ahsoka. No one should be alone when they’re sick.”

Anakin was giving her that hopeful little smile she could never say “no” to, but considering she knew Obi-Wan couldn’t resist it either, she didn’t feel weak for giving in. She couldn’t even argue that he’d be putting himself at risk since the healers gave him the same shot they had given her as a precaution. After shooing him out so that she could change her clothes, Ahsoka walked with him as he chattered away about some mission he had as a Padawan that he’d been reminded of. His voice was soothing, and she was only half paying attention to what he was actually saying. If he noticed, he didn’t seem to mind.

Once they were inside his quarters, he guided her toward the couch. “See? There’s more room here. Much better than what you get as a Padawan.”

Padawans only got a single room, but Knights and Masters got a small living space, a kitchenette, and a bedroom. They still had communal refreshers, but not as many people shared them as the Padawans did on their floors. While Ahsoka had seen a Master’s quarters before thanks to her meditation sessions with Master Plo as an Initiate, she’d never seen Anakin’s quarters. There’d just never been a reason to.

Anakin went into his bedroom and came out a few minutes later with a blanket and the fluffiest pillow she’d ever seen. “I changed the case, so it’s clean,” he said as he attempted to fluff it up even more. “Now lie down while I make you some soup.”

She raised a brow marking. “Since when do you cook?”

“Okay, not actually ‘make’ soup, just heat it up. It’s in a can, but it’s better than what we get out on the front.” He went over to the kitchenette and took out a can from one of the cupboards, looking on the bottom of it to presumably check its expiration date. “And for the record, I can cook. My mom taught me how.”

That was the first time he’d ever mentioned his mother to her. Anakin rarely talked about that part of his life, so she didn’t know anything beyond the fact that he’d been a slave, and she only knew that because Obi-Wan had told her. Ahsoka wanted to ask him about his mother, but she wasn’t sure what his reaction would be. Instead, she told him that he didn’t have to feed her.

“But it’s important to eat when you’re sick. You’ll get better faster.”

Ahsoka didn’t say that the shot the healer had given her wasn’t going to work any quicker if she ate. She wasn’t sure why Anakin was so insistent on taking care of her, especially since she wasn’t _that_ sick. Then she felt a sneeze coming on, and just as she was about to let it loose, Anakin ran up to her and held a tissue to her face. He had amazing reflexes, even for a Jedi. “Thanks,” she said as she took the tissue from him and blew her nose. Then the box of tissues was placed in front of her on the table that was covered in mechanical parts.

“Ah, sorry for the mess.” Anakin smiled a bit sheepishly at her as he cleared the table off.

She laughed. “It’s fine. I thought it’d be a lot worse.” The look he gave at that only made her laugh again, but then the laughter turned into a coughing fit.

“Easy!” Anakin sat beside her and rubbed her back.

The thought that he’d make a good father suddenly came to Ahsoka. Maybe he’d actually get the chance to be one someday if whatever it was he had with Padmé was that serious. As he was pouring the hot soup into a bowl a moment later, she said, “You can go visit Padmé. I mean, it’s not like I’m dying.”

Anakin froze for a couple of seconds before he got a spoon from a drawer. “I’m sure she’s busy. We’re only friends, after all.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, but she let it go.

He folded the blanket over her lap so that the heat from the bowl wouldn’t bother her. “Didn’t you say there was a holodrama you wanted to watch?”

“Yeah, but I can watch it another time. It’s not something you’d be into.”

He was a romance junkie, which she’d thought was hilarious before she’d gotten to know him better, and the drama she’d been looking forward to was about hauntings and ghost lore from three different cultures. Ahsoka had become interested in ghosts after talking with some troopers who swore they’d seen one in an abandoned ship. While Anakin never said he didn’t like horror as a genre, she had a pretty good feeling it wasn’t something he was fond of.

“Hey, if it’ll take your mind off of being sick, I’m all for it.”

She smiled and gave him a playful shove. “You really don’t have to do all this, Master.”

“I don’t mind. Now eat your soup.”

Ahsoka alternated between eating and blowing her nose as they watched the holodrama together. She did her best not to laugh every time Anakin jumped. She jumped a few times herself, but she wasn’t nearly as dramatic about it as Anakin was. After the third episode, he declared a break, and she was kind enough not to mention that he looked more than a little spooked.

“Did Master Obi-Wan take care of you when you got sick as a Padawan?”

“He did, but he had to practically drag me to the medical bay. I would try to hide that I was sick because that was what I’d learned to do growing up, and it was a hard habit to break.”

That was the second time Anakin mentioned his past. Ahsoka was glad he felt comfortable enough with her to be able to say such things so casually, even though he wasn’t going into any kind of detail.

“And then he’d lecture me about needing to take better care of myself.”

Ahsoka chuckled. “Wow, he’s so self-aware.” Whenever Obi-Wan did become ill, he’d deny that anything was wrong until he was about to collapse.

“I know, right? He’s only gotten worse with age.”

She reached for the tissue box and found there was only one tissue left. “Hey, do you have any more?” she asked as she showed him the now empty box.

He held up a finger and got off the couch to begin what ended up being a thorough search of his quarters. Looking at her in a way that was much too distraught for the situation, he shook his head. “I’ll be right back, I swear!”

“Master, you don’t have to—” But he was already out the door.

Ahsoka wasn’t sure why he was putting so much effort into take care of her, but she couldn’t deny that it made her happy. If that meant she was too attached, then so be it.

While she waited for him to return, she lied down on the couch with the intention of just resting her eyes, but when she opened them again, the room was darker, and the blanket had been pulled up to her shoulders. She sat upright and stretched her arms above her head until her joints popped lightly.

Anakin rushed over to her, his cybernetic arm exposed. He must have been working on it, which Ahsoka knew he did every so often. Anakin used to keep it covered with his glove at all times when he was around her, but it had suffered considerable damage on one mission, and he’d had no choice but to fix it on the spot. They’d gotten separated from their men and had set up camp for the night. Ahsoka hadn’t liked how nervous he’d become when he asked if it was okay if he worked on his arm. It wasn’t as though she was disgusted by it. On the contrary, Ahsoka thought all cybernetic prosthetics were fascinating, and the fact that Anakin had mostly built his arm himself only made her admire him all the more.

“Do you need anything?” he asked as he gently touched her arm.

“No. I actually feel a little better after that nap.” She sniffed a little, and Anakin held out a new box of tissues, explaining that he’d gotten it from Obi-Wan. Smiling, she took the box and said, “I’m going back to my quarters now. I know you can use some rest, too, and I don’t want you trying to convince me that I should take your bed while you sleep on this tiny couch.”

Anakin’s face fell a bit, and he was clearly thinking of a reason she should stay, but he eventually nodded as he gave her arm a light squeeze. “Please comm me if you need any help.”

“I will. Thank you, Master.”

Upon returning to her quarters, Ahsoka wanted to fall onto her bed and sleep until noon the next day, but she knew she’d feel disgusting if she didn’t wash up, so she trudged off to the communal showers instead. Clean and in somewhat more comfortable clothing, Ahsoka lied down and hoped there wouldn’t be an emergency mission that would cut their time off short. She had a feeling she would need the next two days to recover completely.

As Ahsoka had predicted, she slept most of the following day, only getting up to eat and use the fresher. At least her appetite hadn’t vanished. Surprisingly, Anakin left her alone after a quick call to make sure she was doing alright. While she ate her dinner, she watched the rest of the holodrama on her datapad, but she realized it wasn’t the same without Anakin trying, and failing, not to jump out of his skin next to her.

On their last day off, Ahsoka was almost back to normal health, so she decided to spend it wandering the Temple District. The fresh air would probably do her some good, but she didn’t want to go too far in case she took a turn for the worst. Having caught her leaving her quarters, Anakin had asked if he could come along, but Ahsoka told him he should do whatever he wanted, silently urging him to visit Padmé. One day, Ahsoka was going to tell him that she knew their poorly kept secret only so she could watch him attempt to convince her in at least five different ways, each one more entertaining than the last, that he and the senator were “just friends.”

Ahsoka returned to the Temple as the sun dipped below the horizon, her belly full of good food and her mind clear. Not sensing Anakin’s presence, she went straight to her quarters and looked over the details of the mission that had been sent to her datapad. They were to go to the Mid Rim with Obi-Wan and the 212th. Ahsoka was always glad that the Council was willing to look past Anakin’s obvious attachment to his old master. They’d all become a family in a way, something she knew Anakin would readily agree with while Obi-Wan would wait until he thought no one was looking to smile to himself.

Just as she was about to go to bed, there was a knock on her door, and she immediately knew it was Anakin. They had an early morning, so it would probably be too much of a hassle to stay the night at Padmé’s apartment.

“How are you feeling?”

“Going out really did the trick, so about 95% better. Thank you again. I’ll return the favor the next time you get sick.”

Anakin frowned slightly. “A Padawan shouldn’t have to take care of their master.”

“Yeah, but I’d want to.” She crossed her arms as she tried to contain her smirk. “Don’t tell me you never took care of Master Obi-Wan when he’d gotten sick.”

His lips twitched into a smile. “Fair point. Sleep well, Ahsoka.”

“You, too, Master.”


End file.
